


It Takes Two

by WanderingShiren



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, F/F, Mutual Pining, POV First Person, POV Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe), Prom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-11 11:08:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15314178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WanderingShiren/pseuds/WanderingShiren
Summary: Lapis is fed up with all the love floating in the air at her high school. But Peridot might make it all worth it for her.





	It Takes Two

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tweeterbirbs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tweeterbirbs/gifts).



> Hey, guys! You can contact me on Tumblr at WritingShiren or on Discord at WanderShiren#3869 . I'd love to talk with you!  
> Anyways, this story was written for my good friend, Tweeterbirbs! It's my first venture into first person, which was harder than I thought it would be just keeping perspectives straight.  
> I hope you enjoy!

I sigh as the loud speakers finish the end of day announcements. It was a brisk spring day and love seems to be filling the air. I roll my eyes as I pass another couple leaning on each other in the hallway.

 

Prom was coming up. It seems to be on everyone’s minds. My grip tightens around my backpack as I trudge through a sea of hormones and exhaustion.

 

I reach my locker and input the combo, placing some books away and picking up others I’d need later.

 

I stop as my eye catches on the photo I keep in my locker. My best friend and I stand on a hill overlooking the town. A picnic spread is laid out behind us as Peridot tries to hold her hat down from the billowing wind on that day. She was in a matching yellow dress (my favorite) and had her arm wrapped around my lithe frame. The shorter girl wore a surprised expression on her face as I took an opportunity to boop her nose before taking the picture. The small girl looked adorably radiant.

 

In comparison, I look like garbage. I wore a baseball shirt with blue sleeves and a pair of jean cut-offs. I don't think I even wore makeup.

 

I slam the locker shut, only to see my favorite little gremlin beside me.

 

“Hey, Lapis!” Peridot chirped, her nasally voice would be grating if it were anyone else, but to me, it was heaven.

 

“Hey, Peri,” I say, casually waving the hand I was using to support the backpack I had sling over my should a moment ago. Peridot takes my free hand and leads me down the hall.

 

“So, how've you been lately?” Peridot asks, nearly skipping as she walked down the hall. Overall, the tiny girl seemed pleased with herself. Maybe she’d done well on a test or something?

 

“I’m fine,” I respond, noncommittally. “All this love going around from prom hype is going to make me vomit.”

 

I expect Peridot to chuckle, but this seems to take her aback.  _ Maybe she’s excited for prom, Lapis, you dolt. _

 

“Sorry,” I say, squeezing Peridot's tender hand in my palm. “It's just everyone seems so happy with their prom dates and everything, and it just kinda makes me feel lonely, ya’know?”

 

Peridot's face softens at that. “Yeah, I definitely understand.”

 

I realize Peridot is taking us to the art room for club. I assumed that's where we were going anyway, but Peridot stops right outside the door, taking my other hand in hers.

 

“Lapis,” Peridot tenderly says, “You know I care about you, right?”

 

I feel my cheeks heat up at Peridot begins her speech. What was she getting at with this?

 

“Yeah…” I let out meekly, trying to look anywhere else but Peridot.

 

“Well,” she begins again, “I was wondering--"

 

We’re both startled by the sound of the second bell, that goes off to announce the bus arrivals. We both pulls back. I can't meet her beautiful blue-green eyes.

 

“Well, we should probably get to club,” Peridot chuckles, scratching the back of her neck.

 

“Yeah, probably,” I say, begging my cheeks to return to their normal shade.

 

We both enter the room. I hear Amethyst and Vidalia snicker from our left and I curse under my breath, still unable to meet Peridot’s eye.

 

The rest of art club went off without a hitch, save for the occasional teasing jab from Amethyst. 

 

Peridot and myself find ourselves walking out of the school building. I’m leaning back, both hands behind my head as I walk, briefly talking with my tiny companion.

 

“--and so that's how I called Xanthe a clod. You should've seen the look on her face!” Peridot snickers to herself.

 

I let out a low whistle. “I can't believe you told off a vice principal like that, Per. How very brave.”

 

Peridot lets out a nervous chuckle. “Thanks, Lapis.”

 

“Hey, no problem.” I reach down and claim her hand in mine, enjoying the feel of the soft and tiny appendage.

 

“Hey, Lapis?” Peridot says, breaking the comfortable silence that had befallen us.

 

“Yeah, Peri?” I look down at Peridot, who seems a bit tense.

 

“Are you gonna go to prom?” She asks, squeezing my hand tight.

 

I feel the blush rise up again as I do my usual of avoiding any sort of eye-contact with the short girl.

 

“I don't know,” I reply, “I don't think I’ll go, but there is someone I’d love to go with.”

 

“I feel the same,” Peridot responds, releasing the grip on my hand before giving it another light squeeze. I feel a pang of jealousy at the smaller girl’s words. “I don't know if I should ask them or try to save myself from the heartbreak. What do you think?”

 

“I think you should go for it, Peri,” I say, trying to make my voice sound normal and not disappointed like I feel right now. “Anyone at all would be lucky to have you.”

 

“Really?” she asks, almost incredulously, as if she didn't know that she was the cutest, most beautiful girl in existence.

 

“Of course!” I cringe, as I realize I responded far too fast. “You’re a huge catch, Per.”

 

“Thanks,” she chirps, “I think you're a huge catch too!” She smiles widely up at me. I can hear my heart beating in my chest.

 

Then suddenly she looks contemplative.

 

“What's wrong?” I ask. Just a second a go she was so happy.

 

“It's just,” she starts, “I don't even know how to dance. Maybe I shouldn't go to prom after all.”

 

_ Yes, _ I screamed in my head.  _ A thousand times yes _ . I can teach her how to dance! I may not get to go to prom with her, but at least this way I can pretend, right?

 

“You know, Peri,” I say, slowly, trying not to sound too excited. “I could teach you how to dance, if you want.”

 

“Oh, really?” she looks up at me. I swear I can see stars in her brilliant blue-green eyes.

 

“Totally,” I smile back down at her.

 

We get in my Jeep, blue as my hair and twice as messy.

 

“We can go to my house and learn,” I say while starting the Jeep. “My mom usually doesn't come home until pretty late, since she started working seconds.”

 

“Yeah, okay!” Peridot says, turning up the beat a bit. “It is Friday, would you mind if I stayed over?”

 

“Be my guest.” I knew my mom wouldn't mind Peridot staying at our house. She had seen her around since we were young and approved heavily of our friendship. And when I came out as gay, my mom knew nearly instantly that I was crushing on Peridot and had tried to convince me many times to pursue my feelings for her.

 

“Okay! Do you want to stop by my house before or after we practice dancing?” Peridot idly plays with her thumbs as I drive, looking over to the smaller girl to see what she was wearing. Jeans and a plain black tee with a single alien head in the middle.

 

“What you're wearing is fine, so it's totally up to you.” I say, focusing back on the road as we reach an intersection.

 

“Hmmmmmm, let's wait till before or after dinner then,” my small companion says after a moment of hesitation.

 

I turn left onto the road road, waiting for her judgement call before committing to a route. I live down the left side of this road whereas Peri lived down the right.

 

I pull into my driveway, hopping out of my Jeep and locking it with the key fob before jogging ahead of Peridot to unlock the door.

 

We enter into my living room as I take Peridot's jacket and hang it in the closet.

 

“We’re gonna have to move the furniture a bit, if you don't mind helping me out,” I say to Peri from one side of the couch. The shorter girl gets the memo, as she lifts the other end of the couch with both hands. Adorably, she seems to struggle with it.

 

With the furniture out of the way, we finally have a decently large area to dance within. I look out the window. By now, it was around 5:30 and it was beginning to get darker. The sun wouldn't set for another hour and a half or so, but still. 

 

I grab Peridot by the hand, leading the shorter girl into the circle of furniture. I put my hands on Peridot's hips. Peridot, giving me a confused look, puts her hands on mine, mimicking the gesture.

 

I giggle. “Peri, the shorter person usually places their hands on the other's shoulders.” I grab Peridot's hands and migrate them to my shoulders, resting them there. “This causes both of you to look at each other in a natural way,” I look down at the shorter girl, blushing at the intimacy we’re sharing.

 

“Now what?” came the nasally reply.

 

“You just have to follow my lead,” I take my first step, going backwards. Peridot follows and I begin to lead her through a dance with imaginary music playing in my head.

 

Peridot is a bit clumsy and I giggle to myself as she falls over several times, each time with an indignant, “Shut up, you clod!” that follows.

 

We approach the end of my imaginary music as I twirl the shorter girl in my arms.

 

“And at the end of the dance, they’ll dip you like this,” I demonstrate, dipping Peridot down and hovering in close. “And they’ll kiss you, most likely.”

 

I put my lips on her cheek and blow a raspberry.

 

“Hey!” She shouts, wiping her face with her sleeve before trying to push me away. I just giggle to myself.

 

“Anyways, that's how you slow dance,” I say, trying to catch my breath after all the laughing I’ve been doing. “You’ll just need a bit more practice and you'll be fine!” I pat her shoulder.

 

“Oh, okay,” she says, twiddling her thumbs. “Can we meet up again then to keep learning?”

 

I swear I see a blush on her face, but I chalk it up to the dancing we just did.

 

“Of course! we can do it every Friday until prom,” I say, smiling at the idea myself. Four weeks of having Peridot all to myself as a dancing partner. I had to stop myself from squealing.

 

“You wanna go get some food now?” I look down at my short companion.

 

“Yes,” she says without hesitation, followed by an on cue stomach rumble.

 

◇◇◇◇

 

The next few weeks were uneventful. The rising hype of prom grew ever more and more suffocating for me, but at least I could look forward to dancing with Peridot on Fridays.

 

Here we are, a week before prom actually arrived. Peridot and I are practicing late in the night. Right now, it's eleven. Last week, we added actual music to our dance sessions.

 

“You’ve gotten so much better in the past week or two, Peri,” I say, looking into the short girl’s eyes. It was true, practice seemed to be paying off for her.

 

“Thanks,” she says, blushing, “I’ve been practicing with my alien doll when I get home.”

 

I giggle at the shorter girl's embarrassment.

 

We finished with a dip as we’ve practiced thus far. Peridot looks up into my eyes, and I swear I can see stars again.

 

“Hey, Lapis,” she starts slowly. “There's something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

 

I gulp, hopefully silently as the air fills with tension. “What is it?”

 

“Would you like to go to prom with me?” she says, hopefully, almost unable to meet my eyes. “The person I liked didn't ask me, so I thought I’d ask you.”

 

“Oh,” I say, trying not to sound disappointed. “Yeah, I’ll totally go with you.”

 

“Great!” she exclaims as I pull her back to her feet.

 

“But, uh, I’m pretty sure they're not going to have tickets by now,” I let her go to scratch the back of my neck.

 

“Oh, no worries! I bought a set already!” Peridot dismisses.

 

“Oh, okay then!” I say. It all feels bittersweet to me though.

 

“Great!” Peridot quickly shimmies up to me, grabbing me by the hands and dances with me quickly for a bit.

 

The sound of the front door opening forces us apart. We watch as my mom comes inside, locking the door behind her.

 

“With how you two are acting right now, I’d say you were guilty of something,” she says, taking off her jacket. “And with how you two are sweating, I’d say it's scandalous.”

 

“We were just--" we start, simultaneously, then look at each other and blush.

 

“Dance practice,” my mom finishes. “I know. Just be sure to move the furniture back when you're done.” My mom proceeds up the stairs heading to her room.

 

We sigh as we hear the door close behind her, then we collapse onto the couch together.

 

“That was… awkward,” Peridot offers, trying to finagle herself into a comfortable position.

 

“Yeah,” I agree, leaning my back against Peridot’s form, “Ever since I told her I was gay, she’s shipped us.”

 

Peridot chuckles, resting her head on the backside of my shoulder. “That's pretty weird.”

 

“Yeah, but she really likes you.” 

 

_ I do too,  _ I stop myself from saying.

 

◇◇◇◇

 

On the day of prom, my mother, of course, berated me with twenty questions. I was basically lined up for interrogation.

 

“So, who’s taking you?” She says, helping me apply makeup.

 

“Peridot,” I answer simply.

 

“Oh, so are you two finally dating?”

 

“No, she said she wanted to go with someone else, but they didn't ask her so she said we could go as friends.”

 

My mom grabs my hand, squeezing it tightly.

 

“So, when did she ask you?” she asks, making sure to evenly blend the makeup she had been applying.

 

“Last week, right before you walked in on us,” I respond, admiring how I look in the mirror.

 

“I knew there was something weird about that night!” She teases, smiling down at me. The heat rises to my cheeks. “Wait,” my mother backtracks. “You said she was waiting for someone to ask her, right?”

 

“Yeah, so what?” I ask, confused about her line of thinking. She goes to style my hair.

 

“I can't believe you believed that,” she says, cryptically, her fingers massaging my scalp to shape my hair into the way that I liked it.

 

“Believed what?” I ask, trying to catch my mom’s eye.

 

“Don't worry about it now,” she says, pushing my chin back to facing forward. “Just think about it. It’ll come to you with time.”

 

Just then, the doorbell rang, leaving no questions to who is was.

 

“She’s here,” my mother states, standing from her stool. We get up to greet her together, my mother coming just because she wanted pictures to tease me with later. 

 

We open the door to see Peridot, whom is wearing the yellow dress. The one that I loved to see on her. It perfectly fit her and accentuated her curves and brought out her beautiful blue-green eyes. Gone were the normal glasses too. Today, she wore contacts, bringing out her cute, button nose. I feel my mom elbow me as I ogle Peridot.

 

“Peridot,” my mom talks for me, “We’re glad you're here. Just come in here for me so I can get some pictures of you two. I think the living room is the perfect place, since that's where you two practiced.”

 

I cursed my mom and her smug look as she corralled us into the living room. Without many words from either Peridot or I, we leave, saying our goodbyes to my mom, who wished us a fun night.

 

Peridot and I fasten into the Volvo she drives, awkward silence engulfing us.

 

“Sorry my mom’s so… overbearing,” I say, trying to start up a conversation.

 

“Don't worry, Lapis,” Peridot says, scratching her neck. “She means well.”

 

“Yeah…” I trail off. “Don't be surprised if your mom has those photos by the time we get back.”

 

Peridot giggles, a soft, angelic sound.

 

“Yeah, that wouldn't surprise me honestly.”

 

We both giggle for a while, talking about how we expected our mothers to already have them printed out and hanging on the wall when we finally got back.

 

“You’re very beautiful tonight,” I say, eyeing Peridot up and down once more. Her blush doesn't go unnoticed by me.

 

“T-thanks!” She says, nervously. “You don't look stunning yourself. Angelic even.”

 

Now it was my turn to blush. I was glad Peridot was focused on the road so she couldn't see it.

 

“Here we are,” Peridot pulls us into the parking lot, hopping out quickly and running around the car to open the door for me. “M’lady,” she says, reaching a hand out to help me out of the car.

 

I giggle and take it. She hooks her arm in mine, walking as a pair into the school.

 

We’d gotten there pretty early, thanks to Peridot’s affinity for punctuality. We lingered a bit before we decided that we came here to dance so we might as well start young into the night.

 

We start out fairly simple. They weren't going to play slow dances until the dance floor was full of sweaty, hormone-fueled teenagers, and right now it was pretty dead.

 

Peridot was getting really into it though. She had even begun dancing with moves that I hadn't taught her.

 

“You’re very good tonight, Peri!” I scream over the music. “You’re really getting into it

“

 

“Wow, thanks!” she calls back. “I was practicing these on my own!”

 

We danced like that for what must have been two hours at least. Then, the DJ, Sour Cream, announced that they would be starting slow dancing after this last song.

 

“Hold on,” Peridot says, as she removes us from the dance floor. “I’ll be right back.”

 

“Where are you going?” I asked, wondering if she didn't want to slow dance with me.

 

“I’m having a great time,” she says, assuredly putting a hand on my shoulder. “I just really have to pee.”

 

I giggle, almost inaudible over the loud music playing and let her go, seeking out the punch stand while she uses the restroom.

 

I run into a familiar face there as I come up on Amethyst, a close friend of mine and Peri’s. She was on the committee. Tonight, she worked the punch stand.

 

“Hey, Ames,” I greet loudly, encroaching on the punch stand.

 

“Hey, Lap,” the short latina greets back. “I didn't know you were here!”

 

“Yeah, Peridot invited me,” I responded flatly before adding, “As a friend.”

 

“Ooh, feels bad man,” she says, patting my arm.

 

“Yeah, she said that the person she likes didn't ask her,” I say, realizing now that I am mad about this.

 

“Oof,” Amethyst says, offering me a cup of punch as something to take my mind off her.

 

I take the cup in my hand, enjoying how cool it was compared to the air of the building that was scorching with how many sweaty bodies were currently in its premises.

 

I begin to think upon my mother's words. What could she mean about falling for what Peridot told me?

 

“When did Peri ask you to come?” Amethyst ask, bringing me back to reality. “It seems like she would've had to ask last month some time, right?”

 

“What? No!” I say, almost offended. “She asked me last week.”

 

“Last week?” Amethyst asks.

 

“Yeah, why?”

 

“Lapis, prom tickets sold out over a month ago,” Amethyst states simply.

 

“Yeah, so?” I ask.

 

“If she--" Amethyst was cut off by Peridot's return, just as the music switched over.

 

“Hey, Lapis!” she greets, excitedly grabbing my arm. “Let's dance!” The small girl, with more might than it appeared she had, pulled both of them onto the dance floor.

 

To my surprise, Peridot is leading our little dance. When did she learn to do that? Either way, it gave me room to think.

 

It struck me. If prom tickets sold out over a month ago that means Peridot ordered them over a month ago. Why would Peridot order tickets if she thought she was going to be asked to prom? Surely, she would just ask the person she would want to go with, right?

 

“Peri,” I start, barely a whisper. I’m surprised when she takes her eyes off our feet and looks up to me, for I thought she wouldn't be able to hear me. “Why would you buy tickets to prom if you thought you would be asked to come?”

 

Peridot pales noticeably at this question. Her eyes seem to glisten over a bit as she looks down. We’ve stopped dancing at this point.

 

“It was you,” she whispers. “It was only ever you.”

 

I gasp as I process her response. She answered a question I didn't ask, but I knew what she meant. In a grandiose sweeping movement I dip the short girl in my arms.

 

I plant a short kiss on her lips as the song comes to a close. Peridot gasps as I pull away.

 

“My crush actually asked me to the dance,” I whisper into her ear. “And I’ve wanted so bad to tell her for the longest time.”

 

Peridot giggles, hooking her arms around my neck as I pull her back to her feet. This time, she closes the gap, kissing me passionately. I kiss back as hard as I can as the lights and music fade around me, like she takes me to a dimension only we inhabit. The contact is like an electric jolt bringing me back to life.

 

We pull back for oxygen. We continue to dance, giggling to ourselves and sharing kisses all the way through.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Contact me on tumblr at WritingShiren or at writingshiren.tumblr.com .


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